摘要：Students’ attitudes towards learning English as a second language is not a new
issue, yet much is to be known about the factors that actually affect the students’
attitudes, especially those who live in rural areas that are known to have poor
perceptions towards as well as poor performance in learning the English language
as compared to Malaysian students who live in urban areas. Using Spolsky’s
(1989) Model of Second Language Learning and Gardner’s (1985) Second
Language Acquisition Theory, this study examines rural Malaysian students’
attitudes towards learning English as a second language. The main objective is to
investigate the individual elements or factors influencing rural secondary school
students’ attitude towards learning the English language. By employing a case
study approach, four students from two different grade levels in a rural secondary
school were purposively selected and individually interviewed and observed in
their learning environments. The data were analysed using within and cross case
analyses as well as thematic analysis, in which the authors read and annotated
interview transcripts, identified themes, developed a coding scheme and coded the
data. The findings suggest that there were two most significant factors influencing
the students’ attitudes towards the learning of English; i) lessons not catered to
students’ proficiency levels and interests, and ii) students’ individual reactions to
negative and positive experiences.
关键词：English as a Second Language (ESL); rural school; students’ attitudes;
learning English; learning
